Despite all efforts to prevent it, including the personal involvement of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a local authorities strike came into effect this morning.
Netanyahu met with local authorities heads last night. "This is not the time to upset the economy with a general strike," Netanyahu said during the meeting. "The strike would harm the citizens in areas that could have been solved in a short time. We are all in the same boat. You do not need to pay the price for populist legislation. I am opposed to this irresponsible legislation."
Following the meeting with Netanyahu, local authorities heads gathered for crucial consultation at the end of which they decided not to accept Netanyahu's proposal, and to go ahead with strike as planned.
In an interview this morning with “IDF Radio" (Galei Zahal), The Union of Local Authorities in Israel chairman Shlomo Bohbot addressed the government and Netanyahu saying, "You are in control of the State of Israel. Get organized. If you want the kind of legislation you have passed, there is no problem. Just give us budgets and don't take away from the local authorities' budgets. We also want to remain within our budgets."
Minister of the Interior Eli Yishai also gave a radio interview, in which he spoke about legislation granting arnona (local property tax) benefits mainly to haredi (ultra-orthodox) institutions and schools. "It's always easiest to blame the haredi sector. It is currently very popular, and this hatred can be very harmful. These claims are false. The institutions on the list of reductions did not receive discounts. Institutions that received reductions in the past are continuing to receive them today. We need to be honest with ourselves and to be attentive to sectors that need help."
Services that are striking
The following services will not be available in 255 local authorities for the duration of the strike:
Welfare services
Parking tickets
Garbage removal
Municipal Police services
Community Center activities
Assistants in Kindergartens and pre-schools will not be working
Schools and pre-schools will function according to regular schedule, and matriculation exams will be held as planned.
"106" call centers will operate as usual, and emergency services will also be functioning.
The background of the strike is what local authorities heads call "a wave of populist proposals by Knesset members, ministers and bored civil servants". The strike will be in effect in all local authorities throughout Israel.
In a press conference held yesterday in Tel Aviv by local authorities, Bohbot stated that if bills that are currently in various stages of legislation in the Knesset are implemented, they will cost local authorities NIS 500-700 million a year, while the local authorities will have no other sources of income to finance these expenses.
Bohbot believes that these moves will obligate local authorities to raise municipality tax rates and that the quality of services rendered to the public will be reduced because of eroded financial resources and larger deficits. "Our goal is not for local authorities to go on strike, but to prevent the government from sticking their hands into citizens' pockets," he said.
Local authorities heads also expressed their indignation over new procedures that prohibit donations to local authorities, which until now have been used for students grants, for constructing public buildings, and for promoting social projects. "There wasn't even a transitional period between the formulation of the new procedure and its implementation on the ground. All the donors got scared, and became frightened that they would be charged with attempted bribery, and have stopped all transfers of funds," Bohbot said.
Some of the prominent donors include Nochi Dankner's IDB Holding Corp. Ltd. (TASE:IDBH) and the Ofer family's Israel Chemicals Ltd. (TASE: ICL). "The Haifa Municipality is due to receive NIS 100 million from the Ofer family to build a soccer stadium. What will it do now?" Bohbot asked.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 16, 2012
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2012